Ohio man caught trying to break into Farmington Hills home

An Ohio man has been charged with attempting to break into homes in Farmington Hills and had been identified as a suspect in other area home invasions.

Eric Dwight Roberson, 37, was arrested about 3:45 a.m. July 7 in the area of Freedom and Drake roads attempting to break into a home. Police said he was wearing a ski mask and gloves when he was arrested.

"We got the warrants for the attempted break-ins. He is a suspect in other cities and other jurisdictions will be looking at crimes in their city," Farmington Hills Assistant Police Chief Dan Rodriguez said.

The arrest was made in a multi-jurisdictional joint effort by members of the South Oakland Narcotics Intelligence Consortium, known as SONIC — a unit composed of detectives from the West Bloomfield Township, Farmington Hills and Novi police departments, the Western Wayne Criminal Response Team (which includes detectives from the Michigan State Police, Wayne County Sheriff’s Department and local departments from western Wayne County), the Farmington Hills Police Directed Patrol Unit, Michigan State Police and the West Bloomfield Police canine unit.

"This started with the Western Wayne unit. They contacted us — that's how SONIC and our Directed Patrol Unit got involved," Rodriguez said. "The Western Wayne unit was the catalyst. We teamed up for the arrest."

Police had identified a suspect in the series of break-ins and had Roberson, who was reportedly living in Ohio and traveling to the area, under surveillance.

Roberson is being held in the Oakland County Jail in lieu of $50,000 cash bond. A not guilty plea was entered for Roberson as he was arraigned July 8 in 47th District Court on two counts of attempted first-degree home invasion. He is due back in court July 20.

Contact LeAnne Rogers at lrogers@hometownlife.com or 734-883-9039. Follow her on Twitter: @LRogersObserver.